In many universities, if it is determined that your English is not at a high enough level, you will not be allowed to enroll in any of your department classes. You may be placed in an Intensive English Program (IEP) and have to do only ESOL courses until your English improves. At BGSU, once accepted to the university, you will begin your studies in your given department immediately. The ESOL courses at BGSU are supplementary courses that you are allowed to take at the same time as your department core courses instead of having to do only English first.

English Proficiency Test results will be sent to your undergraduate advisor or your graduate coordinator for degree-seeking students or to International Student Services for guest students. The placement results are sent as soon as possible, usually one day after the test is taken. You will also receive an email from the ESOL Program office with your results within one week after taking the test, but if you need to register for classes before then, you should meet with your advisor or graduate coordinator.

No part of the ESOL Proficiency test can be retaken to get a better score. However, once you register for the required ESOL class, you will be reassessed (retested) during the first week of the semester. If the results of your reassessment show a placement score above the level of the class, you will be exempted from the class and either moved up to the next level or exempted from ESOL courses.

The required ESOL courses will not count towards your degree, but they do count towards the number of credit hours you take in a given semester. However, if you place into any ESOL classes, they become graduation requirements from the university. In other words, you will not be allowed to graduate from BGSU without completing the ESOL classes you were placed into.

Yes! The goal of BGSU's ESOL program is to help you succeed in your academic and professional future by supporting your English growth and development and to maintain the academic excellence BGSU demands of its students. All students are welcome to take ESOL courses if they would like to continue developing their English proficiency, whether they are required to take those courses or not.

ACCESSIBILITY

Bowling Green State University (BGSU) has built their website around the Standards of the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) 5 and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). The website was built in compliance with the accessibility standards established by section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and detailed in section 1194.22 of the Code of Federal Regulations, “Web-based intranet and internet information and applications” (http://www.section508.gov/summary-section508-standards#web ).

BGSU utilizes many web masters across campus to maintain all of its web properties. Keeping the BGSU website in compliance with section 508 is a joint effort between Disability Services, Marketing and Communications and Information Technology Services. If any page is discovered to be inaccessible, please report it using the above link and we will ensure that the issue is addressed.